Brewer, The Sinews Of Power - Ware, Money, And The English State, 1688-1783

Abstract

In The Sinews of Power: War, Money, and the English State, 1688-1783, John Brewer traces the emergence of what he calls "the fiscal-military state" in a period "more famous for its praise of liberty."

The military successes of the English in the eighteenth century were made possible by the government's increased effectiveness in raising money. The "sinews of power" were the government's increasingly effective devices for enforcing the collection of revenue or raising money through loans and for administering those revenues and loans.